Preparing a will is an uncomfortable reminder of our mortality and surrendering to the inevitable. According to a November 12, 2007, Forbes magazine article, a PNC Wealth Management survey found 30% of adults with investable assets of $500,000 did not have a will; the same article references a Harris Interactive survey done for lawyers.com that found that 55% of the general population had no will.

Paradoxically, those numbers are even lower for the first responder community. Despite the inherently dangerous nature of their jobs, an overwhelmingly large number of first responders – approximately 80-90% do not have even simple wills. (This figure is based only on experiential data and feedback from state and national first responder organizations. We are unaware of any agency or organization that does or can track this type of information.)

First responders selflessly devote their lives to serving their communities and are prepared to pay the ultimate price in the line of duty. The relatively low number of first responders with wills also speaks to the selflessness of first responders; the very nature of their profession is to think of others first, to put the good of the community before themselves. Avoiding the thought of ‘what happens if I die’ is, for many first responders, an occupational necessity.